[Penang] Modern-Asian cuisine at Rembar, Beach Street

Singaporeans will be familiar with Raffles Hotel Singaporeโ€™s legendary HK-born dim sum chef, Leung Tsz Cham, 69, who started his own hawker stall, ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ณ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ดโ€™๐˜€ ๐—”๐˜‚๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—›๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ-๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ at Chinatown Complex Food Centre on Smith Street during the COVID pandemic lockdown years.

One of his sons, Bon Leung (right-most in the photo above from 8 Days Singapore) has decided to emigrate to Penang and start his own restaurant, ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ, at The Courtyard mews off Beach Street, on the last week of May 2025.

Bon Leungโ€™s wife, She Wei (they just got married in Penang last month) was an ex-staff of the well-regarded Atlas Bar in Parkview Square, Singapore, which is a regular entry on the Worldโ€™s 50 Best Bars list. She takes charge of the bar here - the cocktails we had were excellent.

Some of the very interesting South-east Asian-inspired dishes we tried this evening included:
๐—”๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€

  1. Pomelo salad with shredded duck - pomelo with Thai citrus dressing, shrimp floss, toasted glutinous rice, fried shallots, ulam and shredded duck.

  2. Pork belly with green mango salad - grilled local pork belly, shredded green mango and Thai citrus dressing.

  3. Bhel puri mixed heirloom tomato salad- bhel mix, heirloom tomatoes, amchoor, kaffir lime vinaigrette, tamarind liquid.

๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜€
4. Hakka lei cha - lei cha herbs, Thai simmered rice, century egg, chopped white prawns and dried scallops.

To know more about the origins of Hakka lei cha:
https://guide.michelin.com/my/en/article/features/what-is-thunder-tea-rice

  1. Beef rendang open toast - 12-hour slow-cooked Australian chuck steak, rendang spices, perkedil (potato croquette), toasted sourdough. Topped with roselle-pickled cucumbers, and served with crisped pappadum.

  2. Otah - Spanish mackerel mousse with rempah, seabass, grilled pineapple and local grown salad greens.

๐——๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜
7. Pandan coconut ice-cream, dessiccated coconut, Gula Melaka syrup on toasted brioche.

A lot of promise from this young coupleโ€™s new venture. The nifty dining space seats about 30, including 10 at the bar, where one gets ringside views of the open kitchen.

Address
Rembar
21G, Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street), 10300 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6011-1119 9071
Opening hours: 5pm to midnight, Wed to Sun. Closed Mon & Tue.

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Food looks great. Hope they do well.

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Yes, indeed! Iโ€™m so used to seeing older Singaporeans retire to Penang in recent years, e.g. Bernard Harrison (very prominent ex-Singapore zoo director) or Hamish Brown (well-known ex-Singapore TV presenter), but this is the first time I see young Singaporeans de-camp here, quite likely to escape Singaporeโ€™s pressure cooker lifestyle. To them, Penang is so very laidback and relaxed.

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This looks really interesting. I need to get back to Penang. Has been too many years and the scene looks like itโ€™s changing alongside KL and SG.

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Yes, you need to come back, @tigerjohn . The F&B scene has changed quite a bit in Penang, but even more in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur!

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Iโ€™m in SG for several weeks a year. A lot of new things to try but value for money is always an issue vs other peer cities, an issue KL doesnโ€™t have to the same degee. As a result I tend to focus on Singaporean classics and simple Restos or hawker stalls.
Iโ€™ve been to KL 3 times since 2022 and have enjoyed some of the new directions the cuisine is taking and new places that are sprouting up.

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Very cool. One of the recent Michelin Guide articles on Singapore:

https://guide.michelin.com/my/en/article/features/best-sauces-in-singapore

Attended ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ + ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€โ€™ collaborative ๐—ฅ๐—จ๐—  & ๐—ฌ๐—จ๐—  for the Penang Cocktail Week 2025 yesterday evening. Absolutely terrific dining experience.

Two-thirds of Kuala Lumpur-based Fifty Tales - Aaron Khor and Bimmy So - are in town to do a kitchen takeover.

We started off with two excellent rum-based cocktails. Rembar co-owner, She Wei (ex-Atlas Bar Singapore, must be the best bartender weโ€™d come across in Penang!

:small_orange_diamond:๐˜‹๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜Š๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ - with Diplomatico Planas Rum, Amontillado Sherry, Dragonfruit, lime, cucumber soda.
:small_orange_diamond: ๐˜•๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ & ๐˜Ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ - with Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum, Verveine Velay, Yellow Herbal Liqueur, homemade Tepache, nutmeg, lemon, betel leaf.

The food - the starters and mains by Aaron Khor, and dessert by Bimmy So:

:small_orange_diamond:๐˜Š๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜‹๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜‹๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ - sliced, poached duck, marinated in Hakka rice wine, with Gula Melaka-soy glaze, topped with fresh coriander leaves.

:small_orange_diamond:๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ-๐˜Ž๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ-๐˜™๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ด with Sichuan peppercorn.

:small_orange_diamond:The piece de resistance: ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜›๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜Š๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ ๐˜•๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜บ๐˜ข ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ด๐˜ข - laksa noodles with caramelised coconut milk, chopped kaffir lime, lemongrass, bunga kantan, hand-picked crab meat, julienned cucumbers and purple onion, calamansi juice.
Simply the best laksa weโ€™d had in Penang: al dente noodles with a la mian texture, steeped in a creamy-rich, lightly-spiced gravy. Perfection in a bowl.

:small_orange_diamond:Dessert: ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ด ๐˜‘๐˜ข๐˜ฎ & ๐˜”๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜”๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ. The Hokkien โ€œmuacheeโ€ are kissing cousins with Japanese โ€œmochiโ€. The version here is utterly delish.

Wished theyโ€™d stay longer, instead of having just this one-night pop-up.

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Sidebar, is this legendary dim sum chef still at Raffles? I tried to find him on the Raffles page and came up empty. I was looking for a dim sum place around Raffles and came up with Lei Garden which youโ€™ve responded to in my other post.

No, Leung Tsz Cham had left Raffles Hotel quite a while back, pre-COVID.

I want to dive head-first into that bowl of laksa.

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That was so good!